Licensed insurance agents and brokers have had a hard time competing with official public exchange websites, call centers and nonprofit helpers, but they seem to be outselling the insurers' own websites and call centers.

A majority of hospitals in California and other states that in CMS' Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program will be penalized in fiscal year 2016 for having too many patients return within one month of discharge, Modern Healthcare reports.

Anthem has pumped up its 2015 forecast again after earnings jumped more than 17 percent in its most recent quarter, helped by a surge in government money.

Fed up with the insurance industry, Democrats used the health care overhaul to create nonprofit co-ops that would compete with the corporations.

Hoping to avoid another political uproar over the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration is trying to persuade states to cut back big rate increases requested by many health insurance companies for 2016.

New projections by federal government actuaries suggest that the nation’s five-year run of tiny increases in health care spending is coming to an end.